Student COVID-19 cases in SC schools have surpassed 1,000, DHEC says
More than 1,000 students in South Carolina schools have contracted the coronavirus almost halfway through the fall semester.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control announced there had been 148 new coronavirus cases since Friday, when cases in South Carolina’s K-12 schools were last reported. DHEC updates its school numbers twice a week.
The 1,631 COVID-19 positive tests since school began include 1,143 student cases and 488 employee cases, according to the DHEC database updated Friday.
Coronavirus numbers have been rising in S.C. schools in recent weeks. On Oct. 13, DHEC reported the second three-digit jump in numbers of students and teachers diagnosed with COVID-19. Last Friday, the number rose even higher when more than 200 new cases were identified.
The latest numbers come as school districts in South Carolina are moving toward reopening their schools full time.
In the Midlands, Lexington 1 and Lexington-Richland 5 resumed four-day-a-week classes for all elementary schools on Monday. Other districts that have been online-only, such as Richland 1 and Richland 2, have announced that students will begin going back to class twice a week starting next Monday. Lexington 2 has set a target of resuming five-day-a-week classes beginning Nov. 12.
The extent of the spread of the virus in some schools are becoming clearer, as outbreaks in some schools have gotten large enough that DHEC has begun identifying specific case numbers per school. Thirteen students at Lexington High School have come down with COVID-19, the largest outbreak in the Midlands. Another 11 student cases have been identified at River Bluff High School, and six have been diagnosed at the private Ben Lippen School in Columbia.
It’s unclear how many people in K-12 schools have recovered from the virus or how many cases are “active,” metrics the University of South Carolina uses when reporting campus case numbers.
The data apply to all S.C. public, private and charter schools, the majority of which either have no cases or fewer than five cases, according to DHEC data.
The case numbers show how many students and employees who attend or work at a school have tested positive for coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean the infected person contracted COVID-19 from being at the school.
Schools that are still virtual-only may have cases listed in the DHEC database because the infected student employee may have been participating in a school sponsored event, such as sports, when they were potentially contagious.
Here are the case numbers reported in Midlands schools. If a school has less than five cases, DHEC does not specify the exact number.
Lexington 1
- Beechwood Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Carolina Springs Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Carolina Springs Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Centerville Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Forts Pond Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Gilbert Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Gilbert High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Gilbert Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Lake Murray Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Lexington Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Lexington High: 13 student cases
- Lexington Midde: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Meadow Glen Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Meadow Glen Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Midway Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Pelion Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Pelion High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Pleasant Hill Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Red Bank Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- River Bluff High: 11 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Rocky Creek Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Saxe Gotha Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- White Knoll High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- White Knoll Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
Lexington 2
- Airport High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Brookland-Cayce Senior High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Cayce Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Herbert A. Wood Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Pine Ridge Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- R.H. Fulmer Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Saluda River Academy for the Arts: Fewer than 5 student cases
Lexington 3
- Batesburg-Leesville Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Batesburg-Leesville High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Batesburg-Leesville Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
Lexington 4
- Sandhills Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Sandhills Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Swansea High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Swansea High School Freshman Academy: Fewer than 5 student cases
Lexington-Richland 5
- Ballentine Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Chapin High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Chapin Intermediate: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Chapin Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Dutch Fork Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Dutch Fork Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Dutch Fork High: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- H.E. Corley Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Irmo Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Irmo High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Irmo Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Leaphart Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Seven Oaks Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Spring Hill High: Fewer than 5 student cases
Richland 1
- A.C. Flora High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Columbia High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Hand Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Hopkins Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
Richland 2
- Catawba Trail Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Forest Lake Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- L.B. Nelson Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Muller Road Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- North Springs Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Richland Northeast High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Spring Valley High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Windsor Elementary: Fewer than 5 faculty cases
Private schools in Richland County
- Ben Lippen: 6 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Cardinal Newman: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Hammond: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Heathwood Hall: Fewer than 5 student cases
- St. Peter’s Catholic School: Fewer than 5 student cases
Private schools in Lexington County
- Arrows Academy: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Grace Christian: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Heritage Christian Academy: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Lake Murray Baptist Church Kindergarten: Fewer than 5 student cases
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 1:49 PM.
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